A confused postie caused right Royal Mail chaos when he delivered an entire streetload of letters to the WRONG houses this week.

Residents in Tandra, Beanhill each received a bundle of post due for their neighbour in the muddled Monday delivery, which arrived seven hours late.

"Number 110's post went to number 111, number 111's post went to number 112....and so it went on," said householder John Fletcher.

For most people the blunder meant a trip next door to retrieve their mail. But for Mr Fletcher it posed a huge problem – because the house next door was unoccupied and locked up.

"We were expecting some very important test results from the hospital to arrive in the post on Monday morning. But the postman did not come until ten to four in the afternoon – and then he delivered them to the wrong house."

When it became apparent the entire street had the wrong mail, Mr Fletcher called the local sorting office to complain.

"They said there was nothing they could do and told me to call the council, which owns the house next door, to see if they could unlock the door to get our test results.

"When we called the council, they couldn't help either. The tenants next door had not handed in their keys so, unless they broke the door down, they couldn't get in to get our letter."

Mr Fletcher, who is trying to arrange for the hospital to re-send the vital results, said the problems only arose because the usual Beanhill postie was on holiday.

"Normally our postman, Wayne, gives us a brilliant service," he said.

Royal Mail spokesman James Taylor told the Citizen: "We would be surprised if the entire street had been misdelivered to as the postman should check the mail before delivering it.

"However if a misdelivery has been made then this would be human error and we would apologise for it."

He said the Royal Mail would be happy to talk to Mr Fletcher about his concerns.